Roof construction



April 26, 1932. x J. LEDWINKA 1,855,747

- 30oF :CQNSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 16, 1925 IN VEN TOR. JOSEPH LEDWINKA ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 26, 1932 els of which the roof is made.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOSEPH LEDWINKA, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB 'IO EDWARD G. BUDD MANUFACTURING CO., 013 PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA ROOF CONSTRUCTION Application filed November 16, 1925.- SeriaLNo. 69,246.

My invention relates to roof construction for automobiles and especially those of the pleasure car type. It also has especial adap tation to roofs of pressed metal construction throughout. However, the generic spirit of the invention may be found capable of embodiment in other relations and adaptations. In its primary object it has to do with the construction of roofs of pressed metal for use in connection with closed bodies of pressed metal. Its primary object is the securement of a roof of fine lines and smooth'surface free from seams as viewed laterally from any angle and emphasizing to the fullest'those 7 graceful curves which designers commonly embody in the roof structures of closed body pleasure cars. The attainment of this object in a structure inexpensive or only moderately expensive is made possible by. the use of a combination of seam welding and finishing with aflange joinder of the various pan- The seam welding is used throughout those areas of the roof which are curved and arched to the greatest extent, that is, to the side and end margins.

- the main to those relatively flatter portions of the roof which comprise its central area. Thus are attained-not only exteriorly fine lines, smooth surfaces and well-emphasized curvatures, but an interior marginal smoothness of the shell, free from sharp or deep corners, and to which it is possible to make direct or very close and snug attachment of the upholstery. The interior space of the car is correspondingly larger and its appearance more pleasmg and capacious.

The improving of the means of joinder of the roofpanels is a further object. Always this has been a problem. Not only are the seamed and flanged joinder employedina most efficient combination, but the nature of the flange joinder is very materially improved and the roof strengthened thereby.

Those structural features through which the ioinder of the roof to the top of the body is effected have also hadmy attention and the roof I have'devised achieves improvement 5 in each of the lines of efficiency, effectiveness and neat appearance of this joinder. The

The flange joinder is confined in vertically-extending side edges of the roof of my invention are laterally expansible and contractible to a degree sufiicient to enable them to make effective lap jointsin the vertical plane with the side wall of the body. The opposite ends of the top are so related to the rear and front walls of the body as to admit of ready attachment irrespective of such slight change in longitudinal dimensionas may come about through manufacture, or through expansion or contraction of the side edges of the. roof.

Proper reinforcement and proper distribution of that reinforcement is also a feature. The side edges owe their freedom for adjustment to their freedom from transverse ribbing. The ribbing is confined to the relatively flattened central areas of the top. The arched and otherwise curved forms of the perimetral margins of the roof give them ample longitudinal stiffness. The transverse ribbing of the relatively flat central portion gives strength and stiffness to it. This ribbing is made of wood or other sound-deadening material, and mitigates the tendency of a metal top to rumble. Thus is most effective use made of the stiffening and strengthening effects of arched and curved metal sections, the aggregate number of stiffening ribs cut down, and -the roof as a whole greatly lightened.

'These important advantages, according to my invention, combine an improvement in appearance and a lowering of cost of manufacture brought about by the combination of the roof panels with certain body elements adjacent to the roof. Thus the front visor of the car, the windshield header, and the rear quarter glass'run channel enter into combithose skilled in the art and readily derived from the embodiment of my invention which the appended detailed description renders possible. The drawings are a dehneation of the best form of my invention now known to me.

Of them- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an all-metal ton frame.

sedan equipped with the roof construction of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the roof structure per se from the inside: that is, a plan view of-a roof turned upside down.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of one side of the roof, taken on line 3, 3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a partial longitudinal section tale,

All of the sections are taken looking in the direction of the applied arrows.

The sedan body to which the roof is applied is a body constructed entirely of pressed metal. The body -is built about a skeleton framework (not shown) covered with the sheet metal panels which appear in the drawings and which are integrally welded both to the frame and, in some cases, to each other. These panels define the exterior of a cowl section 10, an intermediate section designated generally 11, and a tonneau section designated generally 12. Two side doors, 14 and 15, are shown opening toward and from an intermediate post 16 forming a part of the skele- In addition to the intermediate post, the body includes a front post 17 and a rear post 18. The tonneau section is extended upwardly past the rear window in its section 13. Section 13 at its top is arched over forwardly to constitute a portion of the roof.

The roof is designated generally 19 in Figures 1 and 2. It is of a form having side and end marginal areas arched in cross section, as clearly appears in the several sectic ns.

These arched areas in the instance of the sides and ends of the roof extend inwardly of the side walls of the body a substantial distance. The central area of the roof is relatively fiat. i

As has been intimated, the rear wall of the roof is composed of the upper arched-over top of the top tonneau panel 13. This arching over carries the edge 20 of the panel well forward of the rear wall of the car, and substantially on a line with the rear edge of the rear quarter window. The front arched margin 21 is comprised of a sheet metal stamping extending from the front 22 of the body forwardly to form a downwardly arched visor. Both the front arched stamping 21 and the rear arched stamping'13 extend trans ersely the full width of the body of the car.

The side inwardly arched margins are comprised of the stampings 23. These stampings extend from the line 20 of the front edge of tremities, these four side and end stampings are removed from each other. Their removed nmer edges surround a rectangular openmg which is filled by the relatively flat central panel 24 which is connected with the inner edges of the side and end stampings and s supported thereby.

The slde and end panels are connected together at their extremities by abutting edge sealn welds of the character shown in Figure 9 whereby the curvatures of their respective surfaces merge smoothly into each other and they commonly conform both interiorly and exteriorly to the flowing lines of the roof designer. These welds are smoothed after the making, and when the top is painted no sign of them appears. It is on this account that dash and dot lines rather than full lines are used to indicate the line of the welds.

The central stamping 24, however, is connected to the seam welded marginal stampings of arched cross'section by a different kind of jointthe flange joint shown in Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6. The outer edges of the central stamping 24 are return bent upon themselves to form'a perimetral flange of double the thickness of the central panel. The coacting and supporting inner edges of the marginal stampings are downwardly depressed. as at 26, a depth corresponding to this flange 25 of double thickness. The perimctral flange 25 is seated in this depression. th the return bent portions of the stamping 24. and the depressed edge of the stampings 13, 21, and 23, are provided with down-turned edge flanges 27. Reinforcing angles 28 parallel these flanges, and rivets. bolts or the equivalent pass through both the flanges 27 and the reinforcing members 28 and commonly draw them closely and securely together, excepting in the case of the joints between the rear end of the stamping 24 and stamping 13 and the front end of stamping 24 and the stamping 21.

stituted by the flanges 27 and their bodies contiguous to and bracing the body of the central stamping'24. Preferably the flanges In these cases, the bottom edges of the flanges 27 are gas-welded together. as

27 are themselves covered with a wooden casthe outer sidewall of the channel-sectioned top rail 32. This fitting may be easily accomplished since in the absence of transverse ribbing in these side walls they may be readily sprung inwardly or outwardly the requisite degree to insure the fit. Yet they are longitudinally very stiff and strong by reason of their arched cross section. At the same time, once they are secured to the side walls of channel 32, by reason of the same arched construction the roof structure-is also transversely stiff. Securement is by means of riveting, bolting or welding, as may be desired. A drip channel 33 is secured by the same or different means to the outer face of the down-turned edge 31.

At its rear the roof structure is already secured to the tonneau section 12 inasmuch as the arched over top of the upper panel 13 is an integral part thereof, though it is arched over to such an extent as to form a Very substantialportion of the roof in its entirety.

At itsfront, the roof is secured to the front post 17 jointly through the down-turned edges 31 and through a transverse top windshield header 34. Header 34, at its opposite ends, is welded to post 17. It comprises a stamping of Z-cross section having the main.

body of the Z vertically extending and its lower arm inwardly and upwardly turned to form a finish, while the upper arm is forwardlyextended. Totheunder'sideofthe forwardly-extendingarmoftheheader34iswelded the rear edgeof a forwardly-extending stamping 35. The advance edge of the front marginal stamping 21 is downwardly and rearwardly turned under the forward edge of stamping 35 and welded thereto. Both the header 34 and the stamping 35 are spaced away from the body of stamping 21 in such manner as to form a thick front visor Whose thickness increases from front to rear. At the lateral extremities the stamping 21 approaches the stamping 35, and its ends are downwardly and inwardly turned to underlie the ends of stamping 35, which stamping is substantially transversely straight. In such approach and connection the ends of the stamping 21 continue the general arched curvature of the extremities of the side stampings 23. The under turned edges of stamping 21 are accommodated in offsets in the edges of stamping 35 whereby a smooth and pleasing under surface is formed. opposite ends the visor 21, is downwardly extended and supported by bracket-shaped plates 36 each lying in a plane substantially flush with the outside face of a post 17 and welded thereto, and having their upper edges inwardly flanged to underlie and support the visor by the riveted or other connection with stamping'35, shown in Fig. 8. These brackets at the post are deep, but the depth is reduced gradually along a curved line toward the front of the visor.

The body of the header 34 lies in the plane of the front face 37 of post 17. The flanges 27 of the joint between the visor stamping 21 and the central stamping 24 lie in a plane rearwardly thereof. To these flanges is detachably secured a windshield regulator plate 38 extending from post to post and carrying the regulator mechanism by means of which a windshield frame interposed be,- tween the header 34 and the plate 38 may be raised and lowered vertically. This windshield regulator mechanism forms the subject of a co-pending application filed of even date herewith.

At their rear ends, as shown most clearly in Figure 5, the edges 31 of the side stampings 23 are extendeddownwardly below the bottom of the top rail 32 and are then bent in-, wardly and upwardly to the plane of the bottom of the channel and then inwardly again to form an inwardly flanged glass run channel wall 39 for the top of the rear quarter window 40,the inwardly extending flange at the bottom of the glass run channel being secured to the top rail by spot welding, as indicated in Fig. 5.

In these several ways, the roof enters into combination with other elements of the body. At the sides it forms part of a combination with the top rails and the glass run channel of the rear quarter windows, at the rear part of the combination with the top rear panel, and at the front a part of .two combinations, one with the front visor and the other with the windshield regulator.

The smooth interior (presented by the smooth interior surface of'the central stamping 24, and the joints being finished smooth, and unbroken interior surface of the stamp ings 21, 23 and 13) is upholstered by atttac ing the upholstery fabric 41 thereto in exact corresponding surface conformation. Such a precise conformation may be obtained in various ways but is preferably obtained by treating either or both of the contiguous surfaces of the roof structure and the upholstery fabric so that they adhere together when contiguity is established. The upholstery or equivalent lining 41 is applied before the longitudinal and transverse ribbing 30, 29. The edges of the upholstery are extended to the edges of flanges 27. The longitudinal rib casing 30 covers and binds these edges to the flanges and to the corners. The transverse ribs 29 brace the center section 2-1 through the body of the upholstery 41, which body, being more yielding than they, further At the outer edges of the stampings 23, the

, upholstery 41 is extended downwardly inside of the outer channel wall. On the inner channel wall is erected an upholstery wall or strip 42 extending from the bottom of the channel upwardly to a height not only vertically above the inner wall, but also vertically above the lower edge of upholstery 41. But this upholstery wall 42 does not extend all the way to the roof, falling short of it a distance suflicient to enable one to freely reach with the hand to the interior of channel 32. Yet wall 42 as viewed from the interior of the body gives to the upper margins of the side walls of the car and the edges of the roof a finely finished appearance.- Preferably wall 42 is constituted by a longitudinallyextending strip 43 of stiff, flexible material,

' to the inner face of which upholstery fabric 1 has been applied. and'the ends of the fabric have been turned around the edges and secured to the back of the strip. The strip is removably secured in place.

Such is the structure which embodies m invention. A derivation from it of the a vantages claimed should be entirely clear without special explanation. In the-broader of the annexed claims I seek to cover not only this structure but all other structures in i which my invention may be embodied and through which itsadvantages or their alents may be derived.

What I claim as new and useful 1. In an automobile body, in c'omblnation,

equiv- I a pressed metal roof panel having a downwardly extending flange substantially in the plane of the top windshield header, and a header panel connected with said flange at its top edge.

2. An automobile body, in combination,

with a tonneau section having a rear quarter window frame, and a pressed metal roof panel having its side edge extended down- 'Wardly over the top member of said window frame and thence inwardly and upwardly for securement to said frame member and constituting a-wall of the top glass run channel.

3. In an automobile body, a roof construc- .tion comprising a top panel projected forwardly of the plane of the front post and having its side edge downwardly and inwardly bent, an inside panel having its side edges depressed to form a rabbet of the thickness of top panel, and a plate having its upper' edge inwardly flanged and arranged beneath the inwardly bent edge of the top panel, the inwardly bent edge, the depressed rabbet and the flange being secured together.-

4. In a pressed metal automobile body construction. an upwardly-presenting angular member forming a. longitudinal header and a side roof panel cooperating therewith, said panel having an inwardly-extendingflange secured to the under wall of the header, said windshield header stampings adapted to re ceive the upper edge of a windshield panel therebetween and connected to the rearward and forward edges of said roof panel, respectively, the connection between the forward edge ofthe roof anel and the forward header stamping orming the under side of said overhanging visor.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

JOSEPH LEDWINKA.

flange being provided with a downwardly-. 

